Garden update (finally!)

I feel like I've gotten surprisingly little accomplished in the last few weeks.  This is partly because I had my annual booth at the Westville Artwalk this past Saturday (which I will talk about in my other blog), and spent the two weeks prior eating, sleeping & breathing jewelry.  No time for much garden stuff (for me) at the end of April.

I have managed to plant out everything I had started under lights, including the tomatoes, which I put out a couple of weeks earlier than I did last year.  They're still very small, but for the most part they look green and healthy.  I can't wait til they get a little bigger - the squirrels keep burying them!  Eventually I will fence in the open side of the garden.  It won't keep out any truly determined squirrels, but it will deter the ones that are just casually wandering into the garden in search of goodies.

My broccoli is doing beautifully!  I expect to have a lot more of it this year.  It's the one garden vegetable that I can count on everyone enjoying, so I'm trying to plant more of it.  I may even try for a fall crop this year.

The mizuna and lettuces i've planted alre coming along nicely, but I really need to start some more.  I sowed some carrots a week or so ago, but no sign of them so far.  I have terrible luck with carrots, but I keep trying!  I'll get it eventually.

The long spate of rainy weather we had really slowed down my efforts to dig up new beds.  So far I've only finished two of the six new beds I've got planned.  Now that the craft show is over I should be able to devote more of my dry weather time to digging up sod.  That said, I'm devoting a lot of my child-free time to another major project lately, but that's going to be another post.

The herb bed is still looking a little sparse.  The mint has popped up in at least three different places, and I'm going to have to decide which one I'm going to keep.  The thyme is coming along slowly, but the oregano is going great guns!

 Last year I planted four shiso plants.  I didn't bother to start any this spring because I was told they reseed easily.  Apparently this is correct.  All these little seedlings with heart-shaped leaves are shiso!  I'm going to have to thin them aggressively - I only had four plants last year, and that was more than I needed!